Typically, we host thanksgiving for our family, my mother-in-law and three or four other local families. Similarly, friends down the block do something similar. This year, given the fires, we decided to combine the two dinners. It ended up at their place with roughly 35 people in attendance.
Normally, my wife cooks our turkey(s) - brined then oven roasted in a traditional manner. She did so again this year. However, in my first Turkey contribution, I did one, too. I had it spatchcocked (butterflied/flattened), brined in Bourbon and maple syrup, glazed with the same and smoked. The host of the party deep fried the third Turkey.
All three were very good, but IMO
THIRD PLACE: My smoked turkey. It had great flavor, but was the driest of the three. It was actually okay by any reasonable Turkey standards, but the other two were exceptional
SECOND PLACE: Deep fried. Very flavorful and unusually moist
FIRST PLACE: Traditional oven roasted from my wife. Man, she cranked out one bad-ass bird.
BTW - This isn't a referendum on the cooking method (had I cut 20 minutes off my cook time, we might have had a different ball game).
I just assumed that everyone wanted to know.
Normally, my wife cooks our turkey(s) - brined then oven roasted in a traditional manner. She did so again this year. However, in my first Turkey contribution, I did one, too. I had it spatchcocked (butterflied/flattened), brined in Bourbon and maple syrup, glazed with the same and smoked. The host of the party deep fried the third Turkey.
All three were very good, but IMO
THIRD PLACE: My smoked turkey. It had great flavor, but was the driest of the three. It was actually okay by any reasonable Turkey standards, but the other two were exceptional
SECOND PLACE: Deep fried. Very flavorful and unusually moist
FIRST PLACE: Traditional oven roasted from my wife. Man, she cranked out one bad-ass bird.
BTW - This isn't a referendum on the cooking method (had I cut 20 minutes off my cook time, we might have had a different ball game).
I just assumed that everyone wanted to know.
